Tuesday 21 May 2013

Unbelievable

Well today marks day 372 since we commenced building. (contract allowed 370 days)

From what we were orginally told of a realistic 8-10 months for a double storey house has now turned to over 12 months and has even exceeded the amount of days Metricon has allowed for the build.

We had our PCI last Monday and to be honest, the house was a complete mess and not even close to inspection state. To say we are disappointed in this whole process is a complete understatement and that clear disappointment is now turning into frustration and anger.

I just cannot understand what is taking them so long. Well actually, I can because our house has virtually been sitting there for more than 2 months with no work being done inside or outside. Grrrr

The renderer came back and thought he'd touch up some areas that he missed in the first place and has used a completely different shade of grey. ARGH!

Our timber floors have been completely ruined with scratches, gouges, gaps and stains all over them.

Our inspector couldn't believe that Metricon had decided to present the house to us in such an incomplete state and we both ended up walking out of the house with 5 pages of defects. 5 PAGES!!!

This experience has been what most people say about building - nothing ever goes right, it always takes longer than you expect it blah blah blah but to be honest, we had high hopes for Metricon; especially since we thought that this time round, building with a reputable builder, things would be different..

Who knows when we'll be in as they have not done anything to the house since our PCI. The house is a sea of blue tape and we are just waiting for communication from our CSC or SS.. which surprise surprise, we have not heard from. Our SS did say he hoped that all the defects would be attended to & ready for our final inspection in 3-4weeks, 1 week has passed, so we have 2-3 weeks to go.. Shall we start placing bets??

So til next time, if we're lucky, we may be in by Christmas :(

mali

5 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear it's taking such a long time. We are up to our inspection and building commenced the week before Christmas so it seems really strange given we have also built a Laguna 36 (with added office). I was wondering, did you get an external inspector yourselves? We were going to get one but our supervisor said that so many people were doing so and it saved Metricon having to fix things after handover when it was picked up before so now they forked out themselves for independent inspectors to check each house before handover. Perhaps it is just NSW so I wanted to check what you had been told?

    Really hope things start moving for you soon so you can get the keys and enjoy your new home.

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    1. Hi there - we did get our own private inspector.. Metricon's QA report came back at 97 or 98% whereas our inspector report came back as below standards of how a home should be presented at PCI stage.. You'd be best to get one for your own piece of mind. The inspector that cam through for our PCI was ex-Metricon staff and he was appalled at the condition our house was presented..

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    2. Thanks for your advice Mali especially given how hectic it is for you with your own build, appreciate you taking the time to write that. We had our M independent inspection (the one they arrange - in NSW at least - to be done by someone outside their company) but it was just an individual guy not a company. Given the investment made we decided we wanted our own done as well. We engaged the services of Tyrrells to do a pre-handover check which was great because they did pick up on a few little details here and there. They came out a few days after I rang. We printed the list out for our S.S. on Thursday and he has had his workman go through them ready for our walkthrough and handover on Friday. He'll have his painter and handyman there in case they spot anything during their final clean or we find something we missed before. A few electrical things need to be done by the electrician but all in all they've done well. The Tyrrells guy said he had a really bad M house a few years back in the same area and it was just before our S.S. started working for M so we think our S.S. was the replacement for the previous guy! I have decided the Site.S. is the key determining factor in how the build goes and how the house will turn out for handover. This guy has gone above and beyond and we are very thankful for him - pity we can't send him down to you! M like to get houses through before the end of financial year so you might find you get some movement this week!

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  2. Oh Mali, I know exactly how you feel. We finally got keys last week and it was a struggle. You know what they say, "squeaky wheel gets the grease." Keep right on top of them! We had a 13 page checklist for what was supposed to be our practical completion and we ended up with a 6 page list of defects from it. We then had a few more inspections, slowly whittling down the list. We now have keys but there is still a long email in circulation of defects the builder needs to address. Anyway, my point is that it is a fight, unfortunately, but keep it up, even though I'm sure, like us, you're beyond over it. It will be worth it, you WILL get keys and it will be great :) Hang in there!

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    1. Thanks :) We have been fighting - the whole entire process has been a fight and just when we thought the fights were over - we were far from it!! Glad to hear you guys are in.. Hope to be in ours soon too!!

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